Aston Villa join Chelsea in race to sign €30m Haaland clone

Robin Bairner

• 25 Jun 2024 06:55 BST
• 13 min read

Chelsea face competition from Aston Villa for Hoffenheim striker Maximilian Beier, according to reports.

Beier has been linked with the Stamford Bridge side as an alternative to Villa’s Jhon Duran and Atletico Madrid’s Samu Omorodion, both of whom they have had trouble landing.

But signing the twice-capped Germany international is becoming more complicated for Chelsea as Aston Villa step up their interest in the 21-year-old.

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfers 2024: All the Done Deals

STATS

Maximilian Beier

F (CL), AM (R)

Hoffenheim

Maximilian Beier

F (CL), AM (R)

Hoffenheim

Bundesliga

2023/24

• 33

  Games

• 16

  Goals

• 1

  Assists

View all stats

Sky Sports Deutschland reports that both Premier League sides have gathered information about the Hoffenheim striker, who scored an impressive 16 goals in 33 Bundesliga matches last season.

Beier, meanwhile, has a release clause of €30 million.

The forward has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €15.9m, but this has risen from €2.8m a year ago, pointing to the vast improvement that Beier has made in his game over the course of the last year.

Indeed, prior to this season, he had not scored a single top-flight goal and had struck only seven times for Hannover during a loan spell in the 2.Bundesliga last term.

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Beier vs Haaland: Similar in style

Data analytics experts SciSports compare him in style to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in terms of the role he plays in the team, and the fact that he excels in terms of his dribbling, offensive positioning and recoveries when in defence.

It also indicates there are similarities between his game and current Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson, suggesting that there is logic in having the Germany star act as competition for the Senegal international.

Skill development: Beier, Haaland and Jackson

Beier would not necessarily be an upgrade, though. His SciSkill, a rating given by SciSports to each player based on hundreds of in-game data points, is 84.8, substantially lower than that of Jackson.

At Villa, meanwhile, he would offer backup to front line striker Ollie Watkins, whose SciSkill of 115.4 puts him among the Premier League’s best strikers.